LITERARY SCHOLARS:

Three of Chekhov's stories make reference to homoeopathy. In "Ariadne" (1895), he spoke of a neighbor, a former landowner who was a homoeopathic doctor. Chekhov's short story ""The Malingerers" (1885) has as its lead character a homoeopathic doctor. The story focuses on one landowner who has sunk into poverty. He expresses extreme gratitude for her prescribing three doses of a homoeopathic medicine to him.

Author of the Sherlock Holms detective stories. In Lost World, the narrator is a reporter who bravely decides to interview the violent professor, and a physician friend of this reporter advises him to take along a new remedy that is reported to be "better than arnica" for dealing with the injuries he is sure to suffer from the encounter (Chapter 3). But then, the narrator of the story asserts, "Some people have such extraordinary notions of humour" (as though there could ever be something better than arnica). Doyle originally trained as a medical doctor, but his frustration, bitterness, and even cynicism is well expressed in his great Holmes adventure, "The Adventure of the Resident Patient," a story in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894).

Shaw is the only person ever to have won both a Nobel Prize (Literature in 1925) and an Academy Award (Best Screen-play for Pygmalion in 1938). In his play The Doctor's Dilemma (1906).

In the play's preface, Shaw wrote:

"The test to which all methods of treatment are finally brought is whether they are lucrative to doctors or not. It would be difficult to cite any proposition less obnoxious to science than that advanced by Hehnemann, to wit, that drugs which in large doses produced certain symptoms, counteract them in very small doses, just as in modern practice it is found that a sufficiently small inoculation with typhoid rallies our powers to resist the disease instead of prostrating us with it. But Hahnemann and his followers were frantically persecuted for a century by generations of apothecary-doctors whose incomes depended on the quantity of drugs they could induce their patients to swallow. These two cases of ordinary vaccination and homoeopathy are typical of all the rest."

In 1932 Shaw wrote an essay, Doctors' Delusions, Crude Criminology and Sham Education, which included a story about the homoeopathic treatment he received for a hydrocele. This accumulation of fluid around the testicle normally requires surgery, but Shaw experienced a rapid cure with out recurrence.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861 – 1941)

"..It is not merely a collection of a few medicines, but a new Science with a rational philosophy as its base. We require more scientific interest and ennquiry into the mater with special stress upon the Indian Environments."

In 1936, he wrote:

"I have long been an ardent believer in the science of homoeopathy, and I feel happy that it has got now a greater hold in India than even in the land of its origin. It is not merely a collection.

When Tennson was in his late thirties, he suffered from petit mal seizures and a nervous breakdown supposedly due to thwarted romantic hopes, the death of a close friend, and financial anxieties. He first sought care at a spa under the direction of Dr. Edward Johnson, and there is record of him going to two other spas. He was so despondent and ill that friends despaired for his life (Martin, 1980, 278). However, shortly after he went to the spa and homoeopathic clinic operated by Dr. Gully, he experienced noticeable benefit.

"When you reflect that your own father had to take such medicines as the above, and that you would be taking them to-day yourself but for the introduction of homoeopathy, which forced the old-school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business, you may honestly feel grateful that homoeopathy survived the attempts of the allopathists [conventional physicians] to destroy it, even though you may never employ any physician but an allopathist while you live. (Tawin, 1890)."

The Irish poet W. B. Yeats was a known appreciator of both homoeopathic medicine.

of a few medicines, but a real science with a rational philosophy as its base."

MUSICIANS:

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770 – 1827)

There are references by Beethoven to homoeopathy in this written documentation, and it is well known that his doctor between 1820 and 1826 was Dr. Anton Braunhofer, a professor of biology at the University of Vienna.

Homoeopathy attracted me because it is so subtle, so discreet and so effective in approach to the whole human being, and I have certainly met some remarkable people who practice it. For me it is a personal preference as I try to steer clear of all doctors, as few have this commitment, and it is because I find that the world deals these days so much in terms of size and mass and volume and is always striving for bigger mass and bigger volume. The mentality that seems to dominate is meeting one mass with a grater one in order to overcome the lesser. This is, of course, nonsense, as any thinking human being knows, for it does not apply to human life. Many people close to me have benefited from homoeopathy.

RAVI SHANKAR (1920)

Ravi Shankar was another appreciator of homoeopathy who not only sought homoeopathic treatment wherever he lived but also on the road doing concerts. One Boston homoeopath who treated him after a concert remarked how open he was with all around him about his strong preference for homoeopathic treatment over all other forms of medicine.

TINA TURNER (1939)

Tina's longtime interest in homoeopathy and Buddhism: "Tina Turner looks about thirty-six, and her skin is flawless. She does not deprive herself. She sips wine at dinner, does not diet, not take vitamins. If she's feeling particularly stressed, she consults a homoeopathic doctor.

PHYSICIAN AND SCIENTISTS:

CHARLES DARWIN (1809 – 1882)

After being at Dr. Gully's spa for just nine days, Darwin lamented that Gully had prescribed homoeopathic medicine to him: "I grieve to say that Dr. Gully gives me homoeopathic medicines three times a day, which I take obediently without an atom of faith. The fact that Darwin saw Gully as being like his father and "able" was still not enough to convince him that homoeopathic medicines were effective.

It is also fascinating to note that Darwin himself conducted several experiments evaluating the effects of small doses on an insect-eating plant (Drosera rotundifolia, commonly called sundew) that is commonly used in homoeopathic medicine. He found that solutions of certain salts of ammonia stimulated the glands of the plant's tentacles and caused the plant to turn inward. He made this solution more and more dilute, but the plant still was able to detect the presence of the salt. On July 7, 1874, he wrote to a well-known physiologist, Professor F. C. Donders of Utrecht, Netherlands, that he observed that 1/4,000,000 of a grain had a demonstrable effect upon the Drosera and "the 1/20,000,000th of a grain of the crystallized salt does the same.

PEACEMAKERS:

MAHATMA GANDHI (1869 – 1948)

"Homoeopathy is the latest and refined method of treating patients economically and nonviolently. Government must encourage and patronize it in our country. Late Dr. Hahnemann was a man of superior intellectual power and means of savings of human life having a unique medical nerve. I bow before his skill and the Herculean and humanitarian labour he did. His memory wakes us again and you are to follow him, but the opponents hate the existence of the principles and practice of homoeopathy which in reality cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment and it is beyond all doubt safer and more economical and the most complete medical science.........."

"It cures a larger percentage of cases than any other method of treatment and is beyond all doubt safer, more economical and the most complete medical science."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809 – 1865)

Abraham Lincoln himself showed a special interest in homoeopathic medicine. Today, the Pearson Museum at Southern Illinois University has an exhibit of a nineteenth-century doctor's office and drug store; included in this exhibit is a homoeopathic medicine kit from the Diller Drug Store of Springfield, Illinois. The exhibit notes that Abraham Lincoln was a frequent customer of the drug store and a regular user of homoeopathic medicines.

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AND INDIRA GANDHI

Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and other leaders of Indian society have supported the work of a nonprofit organization called Matru Sewa Sangh for work in providing health services to the poor. Homoeopathic treatment has been an important part of these services since the organization's founding in 1921.

PANDIT MOTILAL NEHRU (1861 – 1931)

The Nehru and Gandhi families have a tradition of appreciation for and use of homoeopathic medicines. Today, several homoeopathic medical colleges and hospitals are named after them.

ROYALS:

NAPOLEAN BONAPARTE'S (1769 – 1821)

Napolean Bonaparte's interest in homoeopathy.

Richard Haehl, MD, the leading biographer of Hahnemann, noted that Napoleon was treated by a Homoeoapth some time after the Battle of Leipzig and had such a positive experience that he expressed extremely strong appreciation for this system of medicine. Haehl wrote:

When Napoleon was treated by Dr. [J. P.] Maragnot on the isle of Elba by the homoeopathic system for a dangerous form of pityriasis (a skin disease) and the Emperor regained his health, he made his physician acquaint him with the meaning and advantages of the new art of healing, and called it "the most beneficent discovery since the invention of the art of printing".

PAUL CULLEN (1803 – 1878)

Paul Cullen, the Archbishop of Dublin became an advocate for homoeopathy and was a contributor to the establishment of a homoeopathic hospital.

KING EDWARD VII (1841 – 1910)

King Edward VII carried on the homoeopathic tradition and was a close drinking and eating partner of Dr. Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, the first British physician to become a homoeopath. Edward's daughter, Maud, married King Haakon VII of Norway, and both sought the homoeopathic care of Sir John Weir, MD.

KING EDWARD VIII (1894 – 1972)

King Edward VIII, known as Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, after his abdication in 1936, carried his homoeopathic medicines in powder doses in his pocket. His brother, King George VI also had a special love for homoeopathy. He even named one of his prize racehorses Hypericum, after a homoeopathic medicine for injuries.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II (1926)

She is an active supporter of homoeopathy. She is patron of the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, which was originally founded by Dr. Frederick Quin, the first "royal physician".

KING GEORGE V. (1865 – 1936)

King George was appreciative of homoeopathy because it provided him with the real practical benefit of treating his seasickness whenever he suffered from it.

PRINCE CHARLES, THE PRINCE OF WALES (1948)

Price Charges, the prince of Wales has been the most out-spoken modern-day royal family member to advocate for what he has popularized as "complementary medicine". In 1982, he became president of the British Medical Association, and made it his mission to get the medical community to understand the problems and limitations of orthodox medicine and to appreciate the contributions of various complementary therapies, including homoeopathy.

SPIRITUAL MASTERS:

SRI AUROBINDO (1872 – 1950)

He once said: "I have noted almost constantly that (Homoeopathic remedies) have a surprising effect, sometimes instantaneous, sometimes rapid ..... The Mother and I have no preference for allopathy. "Medical science has been more a curse to mankind than a bleesing. It has broken the force of epidemics and unveiled a marvelous surgery, but also, it has weakened the natural health of man and multiplied individual diseases; it has implanted fear and dependence in the mind and body; it has taught our health to repose not on natural soundness but a rickety and distasteful crutch." In comparison, he said that homoeopathic medicines "can strike at the psychophysical root" of disease.

RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA (1836 – 1886)

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was one of the most important Hindu religious leaders. Sri Ramakrishna was treated by the first medical doctor in India to become a homoeopath, Mahendra Lal Sircar, MD. As Ramakrishna is regarded as "Avatar" or incarnation of God; so if homoeopathy do not have any healing power; he would not have this therapy for his own Cancer treatment!

RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL SCHNEERSON (1902 – 1994)

The Rebbe was a great appreciator of homoeopathy and used it throughout the latter part of his life.

MOTHER TERESA (1910 – 1997)

Mother Teresa studied homoeopathic medicine with Dr. Diwan Jai Chand (1887 – 1961), a highly respected Indian Homoeopath whose two sons and grandson are also leaders of Indian Homoeopathy. Mother Teresa told others that she would not do a "physician's prescribing" (that is, she would not treat people with chronic or potentially fatal illnesses) but instead would use homoeopathy in many first aid situations. Mother "believes that homoeopathic treatment is indispensable for the poor and distressed people of India in particular, all other countries of the world in general, for its easy approach, effectiveness.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA (1863 – 1902)

Ramakrishna's most illustrious disciples was Swami Vivekananda. SwamiVivekananda once said: "An allopath comes and treats cholera patients and gives them his medicine. The homoeopath comes and gives his medicines and cures perhaps more than the allopath does because the homoeopath does not disturb the patients but allows the nature to deal with them.